It’s time to get more active! A new study links sitting to breast cancer and colon cancer. According to new analysis, ninety thousand new cancer cases a year may be due to sitting for extended periods of time with limited physical activity. There are 43,000 cases of colon cancer and 49,000 cases of breast cancer, cited by the American Institute of Cancer Research (AICR).

Epidemiologist Christine Friedenreich of Alberta Health Services in Calgary, Canada states, “This gives us some idea of the cancers we could prevent by getting people to be more active.” Most people are either too busy with working long hours or too lazy to exercise. Unfortunately, this is causing more illnesses and preventable diseases. Registered dietitian Alice Bender says, “A brisk walk of at least 30 minutes could lower a person’s risk over time for breast cancer and colon cancer.”

Friedenreich takes this claim a step further. She’s found evidence that regular physical activity reduces the risk of breast cancer and colon cancer by 25% to 30%. With those statistics, who wouldn’t want to get off the couch or computer for 30 minutes? The time that is spent watching hours worth of commercials should be used to get active. This study linking prolonged sitting to breast cancer and colon cancer needs to be a “wake-up” call. Cancer is becoming more and more of a “sitting disease” and if society doesn’t get up, then they will be lying down in a casket very soon.